Unlocking the promise of indigenous knowledge to combat climate change

By Charles Dhewa | Sep. 25, 2024 | 4 Min read

climate change

THE fact that climate change is here to stay is no longer debatable.

That is why more support should go to communities that are using indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) to cope with climate change.

Mobilising and raising the profile of IKS as a viable solution against climate change can include using indigenous knowledge to build community resilience and establish community-driven strategic actions for recognising, supporting and protecting IKS.

Value of being alert to false solutions

Against the background of climate change and its impacts, various solutions have been proffered to address its political, economic, social and technological impacts.

Unfortunately, most of the solutions have included: (i) suppressing and replacing indigenous leadership and governance systems that have been the custodians of communities and ecosystems for generations (political dimension); (ii) exploiting natural resources like land, forests, soils and water in the name of industrialisation (economic dimension); (iii) extensive promotion of technologies such as imported seeds, chemicals, fertilisers and pesticides as well as fuels and machinery (technological dimension); and (iv) replacing indigenous knowledge with imported knowledge and curricula to promote Western ideologies, culture and approaches (social dimension).

All these interventions have been promoted at the expense of IKS.

Despite continued commitment and investment in imported/Western approaches and knowledge systems, the negative impacts of climate change have continued.

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The resilience of African farmers has been ignored with most governments not willing to recognise, support and protect IKS as viable approaches to buttressing indigenous food systems in the face of climate change.

However, there is some good news.

The good news is that most African communities have retained a wealth of indigenous knowledge, although siloed in a few individuals from older generations.

Harnessing this knowledge will ride on the growing sentiment among African communities for the need to promote and protect indigenous food and local knowledge systems that better respond to climate change, as opposed to imported approaches that both State and non-State development practitioners continue to promote.

Critical steps in translating knowledge to action include mobilising IKS and raising awareness on the impacts of climate change due to loss of indigenous knowledge.

Also important is the establishment of strategic actions to encourage recognition, support and protection of IKS in impacted communities by policymakers, private sector and development agencies.

All these actions have to be buttressed with documenting, curating and retaining IKS to promote adoption and scaling up in many communities.

The main impact should be climate-resilient communities as well as increased recognition and support for policies that promote community-driven initiatives by policymakers.

Making sense of the status quo regarding climate and resilience of different communities can take a comparative analysis approach focusing on rural, peri-urban and urban.

Such investigation can show the trend and extent to which communities are losing IKS when compared to how much IKS still exists, the state of climate and resilience in rural, peri-urban and urban areas.

Community dialogues by age and gender can gather valuable insights on how people understand climate change and IKS.

This can be followed by dialogue with government departments, private sector, academics, non-governmental organisations, local authorities, traditional leaders, political leaders, Christian leaders and others within rural, peri-urban and urban areas.

The third step can look at policies, what are policies saying about IKS and climate change?

Are African governments realistic about their endorsement of international conventions on climate versus the reality on the ground?

Building the capacity of communities to package IKS

The main challenge for most African communities is in generating and packaging knowledge into a strong voice on how communities are being impacted by losing IKS as well as how they can build succession pathways for dealing with climate change.

Building the capacity of communities to value their IKS is critical because every community and local economy is driven by knowledge.

Values and growth pathways are driven by how much knowledge communities have about their environment.

Capacity strengthening can include helping communities to document existing knowledge and use IKS to develop investment guides.

That will accelerate the recognition, support and protection of what still exists.

Given the extent to which some communities think climate change has a spiritual dimension, capacity strengthening can focus on advancing some cultural and traditional ceremonies that are still being practised even in the context of competing religions.

Many rural communities still have IKS related to food systems as well as natural forests and traditional medicines but all these are undocumented.

Helping communities to package and patent their own resources including medicines can be a fundamental endeavour.

If that is not done, outsiders will continue making money with community natural resources such as herbs and teas like zumbani, while communities wallow in poverty.

Also important is protecting communities from demonising their traditional ceremonies and restoring the role of traditional chiefs.

Reclaiming IKS through advocacy should include holding chiefs to account for making sure their traditional ceremonies are not demonised, but restored.

Harnessing the power of the media

The media should be decolonised so that they embrace IKS.

Currently, there are few stories on how communities are preserving their culture through food systems and cultural norms.

Knowledge gatherers within communities are needed and their roles should be institutionalised with support from the media, formal institutions like colleges and universities.

The media can also help communities to narrate IKS in their own ways using theatre and challenge policymakers to preserve wetlands which were considered sacred and sources of food in most African countries for generations.

As custodians of local resources including wetlands, chiefs should be consulted before boreholes are drilled.

Many sacred places in Africa have been converted into tourist sites without consulting traditional leaders and this has destroyed the sacredness and traditional spirituality associated with these important shrines.

Local communities think this is causing climate disasters like cyclones and droughts.